Devotion - May 21

[Psalms 101-105 / Proverbs 21 / John 14:16-18]

This morning's devotion is morning prayer 21 from John Baillie's "A Diary of Private Prayer". You may follow that link to find his prayer for this evening as well. His line, "stay with me also when I am in my own home and among my family" is especially fitting in the season we currently inhabit. As we continue to journey through this season, remember Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit in John 14:16-18 -- the he will not leave us orphaned.

Holy Spirit of God, visit now my soul, and stay within it until evening. Inspire all my thoughts. Spread throughout all my imaginations. Suggest all my decisions. Lodge in my will's most inward strength and order all that I do. Be with me in my silence and in my speech, in my haste and in my leisure, in company and in solitude, in the freshness of the evening; and give me grace at all times to rejoice in Your mysterious companionship.

My heart an altar, and Your love the flame.Accompany me today, O Spirit invisible, in all my goings, but stay with me also when I am in my own home and among my family. Forbid that I should fail to show those nearest to me the sympathy and consideration which Your grace enables me to show others with whom I have to do. Forbid that I should refuse my own household the courtesy and politeness which I think proper to show to strangers. Let charity today begin at home.

Leave me not, O gracious Presence, in such hours as I may today devote to the reading of books or of newspapers. Guide my mind to choose the right books and, having chosen them, to read them in the right way. When I read for profit, grant that all I read may lead me nearer to Yourself. When I read for recreation, grant that what I read may not lead away from You. As with books, so also for the music and entertainment I choose. Let all my reading so refresh my mind that I may the more eagerly seek after whatsoever things are pure and fair and true.
Let me have a special sense of Your nearness to me, God, in such times as I may be able to devote to prayer, to any public exercise of worship, or to the receiving of the Blessed Sacrament; through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
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